


Just For Today

by KittiePhanatic



Series: Never Tear Us Apart [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Manipulative Relationship, No Apocalypse, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22472227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittiePhanatic/pseuds/KittiePhanatic
Summary: Nine months into sobriety, Klaus meets a fellow Narcotics Anonymous member new to town.  He takes a very quick liking to her.  Colette is nowhere near the woman she wants Klaus to believe she is, however.Set nine months after the averted apocalypse.  A sequel to "The Ties That Bind" (a fic based on Five not having reset the timeline on "The Day That Wasn’t"). Can be read as standalone.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Never Tear Us Apart [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1483187
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

Klaus Hargreeves applauded with everyone else in the large meeting as he watched a guy receive his ninety-day coin and sit back down.

"How about six months? … Nine months?"

"My name's Klaus, and I’m an addict." Klaus walked up to the desk and was handed his own coin. Despite his history of making himself the center of attention throughout his teens and adult life up until truly achieving sobriety, the applause now still made him as uncomfortable as his previous milestones.

Klaus sat back down next to his sponsor Dale while one year and eighteen months went by with no other recipients. He had noticed throughout this month that December was never a popular month for sobriety. Dale had said there were many newcomers in January, but most were rarely seen again after the first month.

"Multiples of years in the month of December?"

"My name's Colette, I’m an addict, and today I celebrate four years." The auburn-haired woman in the speaker's chair stood up to receive her coin and hug. This was the same woman who had announced herself as having just relocated from San Francisco during the visitor inquiry.

After announcements were made, Colette was introduced as tonight's speaker. She stepped up to the podium. "I’m Colette, and I’m an addict," she repeated. As she began her message by stating how she had never imagined ever achieving this much sobriety, Klaus observed her long, curly auburn-hair in braids with wisps of spiral bangs, her cropped T-shirt with smiley face encircled with the words _ONE DAY AT A TIME_ and the impressive sleeves of artistic multi-colored tattoos down each of her arms.

Colette detailed actually having born in Philadelphia to an addicted mother and was immediately taken by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care, until eventually adopted by a conservative couple and raised in a rural Pennsylvania community. By middle school she realized she was bisexual but kept it to herself as her parents deemed non-straight people sinners. She admitted taking her first hit of drugs at fourteen years of age and no longer feeling like the socially-awkward child she had always thought of herself before. Two years later her parents learned of her addiction, as well as her sexuality. They wanted to send her to a Christian boarding school; she instead ran away from home. She lived on the streets in Philadelphia, hoping to find her birth mother, while prostituting herself in order to survive. After learning her birth mother had died from an overdose not long after Colette was born, Colette hitched rides to San Francisco. For a few years Colette partied hard while living on the streets of the Haight-Ashbury district.

Then came Melanie --- or Mel, as she had preferred to be called. A biker woman who had just relocated from Ohio, and who had endured the same amount of rejection from her own parents. The first person who had truly loved Colette for whom she was. Klaus felt a twinge of sadness as he reached for the dog tags inside his Pansexual Pride tie-dyed shirt. He remembered the last time he had conjured Dave, only for Dave to say goodbye to Klaus. Klaus had known he would need to move on, and he eventually would; until he were to meet someone else, however, Klaus would keep wearing the dog tags.

Colette got clean for Mel, she said, and the two had the best relationship either had ever had with another person. Life was bliss. Until the horrible day that Mel's motorcycle was struck by another vehicle, costing Mel her life. Colette went on another bender and spent Christmas, 2015 in the hospital. As she fought for her life, Mel appeared pleading with Colette to get help. She indeed agreed to rehab and had remained clean ever since. She had worked as an office clerk in the tech industry until the company had recently folded. She had just relocated to this city as an office manager of a large and longtime successful corporation.

After Colette was done sharing her story, she called on her sponsor Dana, who had helped Colette move and would be leaving the next day. After hearing next from the meeting secretary sitting beside her, Colette called out, "How about the person who just celebrated nine months?"

Klaus gulped nervously. He hated speaking at meetings. But he couldn’t pass, not with Dale sitting next to him. He slowly walked up to the podium.

"I’m Klaus, and I’m an addict." He cleared his throat. "Um, congratulations on four years. I never thought I would make it to a week, let alone nine months." Klaus thought of what else to say, knowing that his first week clean had delivered him greater challenges than anyone else in the room. Dale had always said, _look for the similarities, not the differences._ While that might be true, Klaus had yet to hear anyone say that they had spent their first week of sobriety trying to avert an apocalypse. "I was adopted, too, and my dad also didn’t accept my sexuality." Klaus thought back to the day that he had manifested their father to his siblings and the horrible things that Sir Reginald Hargreeves said about him. _He was no longer of any benefit to the collection, with or without the poison. And that is why he was my biggest disappointment._ "My mom, and my brothers and sisters, thankfully, always have." He looked down at his manicured polished nails, courtesy of Allison's last visit just before Christmas. Allison was now back in Los Angeles with her daughter, but she would be returning in three days for New Year's Eve. "I lost the love of my life before I got clean. At first I got clean…" _to conjure him,_ Klaus thought to himself, but since coming to meetings he decided never to bring up Umbrella Academy stuff. There were people who knew whom he was, of course, but anyone left who they were otherwise at the door; they were solely addicts for at least the next hour. "...for him; and to be honest, for my family, because at the time we all needed each other. And at first I went to meetings because I was required as part of the Lee Brown program." Seeing Colette's confused expression, Klaus continued, "Right. You’re new. Um, it’s a diversion program for addicts in this city. But I realized how important meetings and step-work are as well. My family is _very_ supportive, but none of them are addicts---well, maybe one of my brothers is," Klaus thought of Five and his love of alcohol. "Listening to people's stories and their similarities help, too. Anyway, thanks," he concluded nervously as he sat down.

After the meeting was over, Colette approached him. "Klaus, right?" She held out her hand.

"Yeah," Klaus smiled as they shook hands.

"I knew you were like me," she pointed to his shirt. "Pan Pride, right?"

"Why, yes, darling," Klaus playfully batted his eyelashes. "And I’ll have you know, this is my favorite shirt!"

"Listen, my soon-to-be-ex-sponsor and a few others of us are going out to eat," Colette said. "You wanna join us?"

"Well, Dale's my ride," Klaus pointed to his sponsor.

"What’s up?" Dale responded to talk of his name.

Colette looked at Dale. "I invited Klaus to hang out with us. You can, too, of course."

Dale shook his head. "I can’t tonight. I have to get back home."

"I can give you a ride," Colette offered to Klaus.

Klaus looked at his sponsor.

"You should go." Dale, as Klaus' sponsor, knew how difficult it was for Klaus to make friends in recovery.

"Okay. I just need to call home and let my family know I’ll be late."

Klaus walked to the payphone in the hallway and punched in the numbers to the Umbrella Academy. 

"Hargreeves Residence," Pogo's voice came on the line.

"Master Pogo, darling," Klaus purred. "Would you so kindly let the others know that I will be going out with some people from NA and coming home later?"

"I will indeed do so, Master Klaus," Pogo said. "I am glad to hear that you are forming new friendships. I know that your siblings will be, too."

Klaus knew that at least Diego and Vanya would be; and standing next to Klaus, so was his ghost brother Ben, he could tell. Luther had moved into Diego's former room at the gym for the same exchange of custodial work; Al had kept pushing Luther to fight until Luther finally admitted that he was an Umbrella Academy member and thereby wouldn’t be a fair fight. Along with Klaus, Diego and Vanya, Five was living at the mansion, of course; despite his actual age, Five was physically too young to be able to live on his own…despite having done that for decades.

Klaus followed Colette and Dana to a yellow Camaro with California plates. Dana offered Klaus the front seat and Colette drove them to a nearby coffee house. Two other people Klaus had never before met joined them.

"So, how _did_ you get clean?" Colette asked Klaus. "You said at first for the person you lost. Most people do the opposite."

Klaus nodded. "Yeah, I did get high at first," Klaus admitted, recalling the day that Diego had to rescue him at the veterans bar. And he remembered his brother’s words after Klaus admitted his loss. _When you lose someone, at least you can see them whenever you want._ And he did get clean, and he was indeed able to conjure Dave. But how could he explain this to someone who might not yet know who he was? "My brother helped me get clean after that." He looked at the confused faces of Colette and her sponsor. He might as well say it. Colette, at least, would find out soon enough. "You know of the Umbrella Academy, right?"

Colette looked at Dana, who nodded, and then back at Klaus. "Uh, no. But I wasn’t allowed to watch any TV while growing up."

"That was who I told you about, remember?" Dana said to her. "When I said you’d be living in the same town as them." Then her eyes widened. "Wait, you’re Klaus _Hargreeves?_ "

Klaus sighed. "Yes, I’m the lovely séance."

Dana laughed. "I had such a crush on Spaceboy back in the day. Isn’t he actually working on the moon now?"

"No, he came back after our father died."

"Oh, that’s right," Dana said. "I’m sorry, by the way."

"Oh, don’t be," Klaus grinned. "None of us are."

"That’s right," Dana then again turned to her sponsee. "Their sister wrote an autobiography. Doesn’t paint a good picture of him." Then she looked back at Klaus. "Sorry. This isn’t any of my business."

"So, you used to be famous?" Colette inquired. "Dana knew Robin Williams from meetings."

"That, and I lived in L.A. for a while. You’d be surprised how many actors go to meetings there. Anonymity, of course."

Klaus nodded at Dana. "By the way, our sister reconciled with all of us. She’s actually one of my best friends now."

"Dana!" The barista called out as she placed a drink on the counter.

"Sorry she’s kind of nosey," Colette said to Klaus after Dana got up.

"She’s fine," Klaus said right before Dana rejoined them. "I don’t mind talking about my family."

"Well, I figured out what you meant by staying sober for your boyfriend," Dana said before turning to Colette. "Remember that this was a family of superheroes. I remember that you were able to talk to ghosts."

Colette's eyes widened. "You can really do that?"

Klaus nodded, nervously.

"That was why you started drugs, at least according to what your sister wrote." Dana then looked at Colette's disapproving look. "Sorry. I’m being nosey."

"It’s okay. Yes, I did do drugs so I wouldn’t see them. Then I met the love of my life and lost him. So yeah, I did get clean to see him, but then I stayed clean because…" _because we had to keep Vanya from causing an apocalypse,_ Klaus thought to himself, "my sister needed my help. It’s a long story."

"Well, your family’s business is their own business," Dana said. "So, are you still staying sober for them? And what about this program you’re in?"

"I actually graduated from that last month," Klaus said nervously, feeling like he was being interrogated.

"Well, you know what they say in the rooms," Dana pointed out. "You have to stay clean for yourself, first and foremost."

" _Dana!_ " Colette scolded her sponsor.

As Dana quickly engaged with the two other people at their table, Colette said to Klaus, "I’m really sorry about my sponsor, although she is right."

"I know." Klaus had heard it plenty of times from Dale --- the only person outside Klaus' family (besides his and Vanya's therapist) who truly knew him.

"So, do you mind telling me about your family?" Colette asked. "I mean, all that Dana said was that you were a bunch of superheroes all born on the same day."

Klaus nodded. "Yeah, we were trained as kids to kill bad guys, so I can’t say I had an exceptional childhood."

Colette's eyes widened. "Holy shit, I guess so!" 

"Luther, who was known as Spaceboy as Dana put it, has superhuman strength. Diego was the Kraken and can curve anything he throws, and he’s another one of my best friends. Allison, the Rumor---"

"Wait. Allison Hargreeves, the actress?" Colette asked. "That’s your sister?"

"Yeah. She can make people do what she wants by beginning with, 'I heard a rumor.' Number Five can jump through space." Klaus opted not to bring up the time-travel ability.

"Number Five?" Colette asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah, Sir Reggie never gave us names, just called us by our 'number.' Our mom named us, but Five never used it."

"That’s strange."

"Oh, honey," Klaus laughed. "I cannot begin to explain the oddities of that lad. Anyway, my brother Ben, the Horror, died during a mission when we were seventeen."

"Do you mind if I ask…are you able to see him, too?"

"Yes," Klaus waved at his brother standing behind Colette. "He’s here now."

"I’ll leave you alone now," Ben said as he disappeared.

"And then Vanya was the one who wrote the autobiography," Klaus explained. "She grew up without powers and never went on missions with us."

"So, she felt left out, I take it?" Colette guessed. "I can relate to that."

"Yeah, but like I said, we all reconciled after our dad’s death."

"That’s good," Colette said. "I was an only child, and I haven’t talked with my adoptive parents since I left home."

"Diego was the only sibling --- well, the only _living_ sibling, that is --- who kept in contact with me after we all left home. And now most of us are living back at that home."

"So, do any of your siblings work? I mean, besides Allison."

Klaus nodded. "Luther's a janitor at the gym where he lives. Diego used to live there and do the same; he now teaches martial arts there and he’s a professional boxer. Vanya is a professional violinist, but right now she’s taking time off from playing for personal reasons."

Colette nodded. "And you?"

"I’m going to start looking after the New Year. I was in the Lee Brown program for six months and never had a job before that."

Colette shook her head. "I can’t count the number of times I’ve been in jail. Drug use, petty theft, soliciting an undercover PO."

"Oops," Klaus laughed. "Aside from that last one, I went to jail for those, too…and prostitution, of course."

"What offense brought you to the diversion program?"

"I stole an ice cream truck," Klaus said. "Another long story."

As the two continued talking, Klaus was feeling… _something._ Dale had ordered Klaus not to become involved with someone during his first year of sobriety. But there was nothing wrong with _talking,_ right? And someone with that much sobriety wouldn’t want to date someone with far fewer days, anyway. And that was why Klaus didn’t read too much into her offering of her telephone number as they got ready to leave. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Nice place," Colette said to Klaus as they pulled up in front of the Umbrella Academy mansion. 

"Thanks for the ride home." Klaus opened the passenger door, while at the same time Dana let herself out of the back passenger side.

"Call me tomorrow, and we’ll go to a meeting somewhere. Okay?" Colette offered.

"Okay." Klaus hugged his new friend and exited the vehicle. After Dana took his place, Klaus watched as the Camero drove away.

He liked her. Even if they could never date, he hoped they could become good friends.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I’d say that went well, right?" Colette said to Dana after they were several blocks away.

"Yep. Like the media said, Klaus Hargreeves isn’t the sharpest tool in that family," Dana snickered. "Keep working on him while I’m back home. Let me know when you get things taken care of so I can come back."

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!
> 
> Quite a bit of this chapter entails some recaps of "The Ties That Bind." I did so because I realize some might have chosen not to read that fic due to some of the tags. I wanted to give those people who are reading this one and fit that category the backstory from that previous fic so that they do not have to feel they must read it to understand things here.
> 
> For those who indeed do not want to read TTTB, here is a brief (OK, maybe not so much) summary:
> 
> Five returns at 8:15 Wednesday evening, rather than the morning. Grace tells Diego the truth, and Klaus is able to conjure Dave. However, because of Luther and Allison's absence, Five's injury and Diego's arrest, Klaus searches for Vanya on his own. Vanya kills Leonard in the same way after finding the journal, and Klaus convinces her to come home. The following morning Allison is unable to see Claire as Pogo called Patrick with the message that she and Luther must return. Meanwhile, once Vanya realizes Pogo knew, Klaus intervenes and has his temporary visit to the afterlife, presumably having the same convo with Dear Old Dad in canon. While Klaus is recovering following his revival, Diego reads about Klaus' mausoleum trainings in the journal, which is when their bond is truly established. Luther still goes out on his bender after learning the truth about Dad’s death and hooks up with the rave bunny, but Vanya and Allison reconcile without the expense of the latter's vocal cords. Allison grown a closer bond with Klaus as well. Hazel still surrenders their weapons to Five, and they avert the apocalypse at the concert: Ben takes out the gunmen, and later Cha-Cha. Meanwhile, although charges against Diego are dropped, Klaus is still charged with theft and driving the ice-cream truck; however, Beamer and Rodriguez, who know the truth about the shooting but agree not to involve the family, inform Klaus he will be put in a diversion program for addicts. Klaus eventually manifests Sir Reginald, who admits he was a Commission employee (his lady love in the season finale was a fellow Commission employee; they retired to the future, but as that world was ending, the jar of illuminated dust allowed him to travel back to the time of his choosing) who time-traveled to 1964, built his empire, and revealed Vanya to be the first child adopted; Luther was next, and then Diego, and so on....Hazel visits the next night to set other things straight (yes, the Handler is dead, and the few remaining surviving employees decided to live out their days in the Commission's 1955 setting with no further manipulations of timelines) and leaves to resume his trip across the country with Agnes. Dave finally says goodbye to Klaus, knowing that Klaus must move on with life and promises they will be reunited for good in eternity.
> 
> In this chapter, there is a very brief one-sentence mention of a past suicidal ideation. Very little detail is given, and because I don’t plan on it being mentioned any further in this story I don’t wish to add related tags. However, it is mentioned during a recall of Klaus' manifestation of Sir Reggie, in case anyone wants to skip over that portion of the chapter.
> 
> At this point, if I do bring up the subject matter again, (which is not my intent now) it will likely just be the canonical reference to Sir Reginald's death. However, I don’t see where that will come up again. I have general ideas where I want to take this story, but the finer details will come to me as I write this.

As Klaus entered the foyer and saw the chandelier lightly swinging above, he knew that Vanya must be practicing her violin.

Klaus stepped back as he observed the chandelier, which had finally gotten fixed two months ago. He didn’t know until about a week after the averted apocalypse how it had gotten damaged in the first place.

Klaus headed up the stairs were, sure enough, he heard both violin and guitar playing coming from Diego's room. Klaus recognized the very familiar tune of the previous generation, _Stairway to Heaven._ Vanya was, of course, playing the melody while Diego wasn’t doing a shabby job of the chords. Klaus stood outside the door and waited for them to finish.

Both Vanya and Klaus had taught Diego how to play the guitar. From Vanya Diego had learned to read music, while Klaus guided him on guitar chord progressions.

Klaus waited until the last three measures of the song before bursting in and singing along with Vanya's solo melody. "And she’s buy-uy-ing her sta-air-way…to Hea-ven!" Then he applauded. "Fantabulous job! Both of you!"

Diego put his guitar down and playfully slapped his brother on the arm. "Thanks, bro. Still need to work on the beginning myself."

"So, how was your evening out?" Vanya inquired as she placed her violin back in its case.

"It was good," Klaus told them about the new girl in town. Diego and Vanya knew that Klaus generally refused to give much information about anyone at meetings, honoring the suggestion that what is said in meetings stayed in meetings. However, this time Klaus decided it was acceptable to somewhat breach this tradition and continued, "Our stories are relatively similar. She was adopted and sheltered by her parents in a different way." He told them how she had never even heard of the Umbrella Academy while growing up due to lack of television.

There had been a few times where people would attempt to approach Klaus at meetings inquiring about his Umbrella Academy days, some of whom were not actually newcomers and should have known better. Usually Dale or another "oldtimer" would shut these people up. Dale, who was in his late forties, muscular, with many tattoos, and rode his Harley in warmer weather, had just celebrated ten years of "clean time" in November; yet he still struggled with road rage and other "character defects," as they were called. Klaus was, of course, still working through the shit he had endured from their father, as well as the numerous amount of harm done to his own self the many years he was using out on the streets.

When Dale had agreed to sponsor Klaus (after taking some time to ensure Klaus was truly going to meetings for himself and not just to fulfill his program requirements), he said upfront that he didn’t give a shit about Klaus' past as a celebrity; all Dale cared about was Klaus' recovery and what he could do to help.

Of course, Klaus did have to be honest with Dale about his powers, but also that he had the support of his family in sobriety. Dale had actually met Diego one of the times the latter had come to pick Klaus up; and while Klaus was engaging with his former rehab bunkmate who had also completed the program, Dale and Diego had a relatively in-depth conversation in which Diego had apparently convinced Dale that Klaus had made a complete about-face after quitting and was truly committed to recovery.

Of course, Dale's other main concern was Klaus getting sober to conjure his fallen boyfriend; however, Diego also assured Dale of Klaus' commitment as Dave had said goodbye to him over a week later and Klaus had, of course, continued to maintain sobriety. Dale tacked on his other "rule" as a sponsor that Klaus not date anyone his first year in sobriety.

And so far, Klaus had kept his end of the bargain. He met with Dale at the same time weekly, other than a couple of times when one of them was legitimately sick with a fever. And even though Klaus had been over six months clean by the time Dale agreed to take him on, Dale still required that he attend "ninety meetings in ninety days," the same requirement imposed on most newcomers by their sponsors. And the couple of meetings (much smaller ones!) where Klaus was asked to "chair" (be the initial speaker, and then propose a topic for discussion) he kept his shares very general, talking nothing about Umbrella Academy stuff or superpowers, per Dale's guidance. The only mention of his family was how supportive they were of his recovery, and the bond that Klaus had developed with several of his siblings since getting clean.

As Klaus now told two of such siblings about his new friend, Diego seemed pleased for him while Vanya soon appeared uncomfortable. 

"So, this woman…" Vanya began uncomfortably after Klaus shared what he thought was appropriate, "you said she never read…?" Vanya trailed off and looked at Diego.

"No!" Klaus said quickly. "Her sponsor did, though. Her sponsor had a hell of a lot more questions about the Academy than Colette did." He laughed. "A couple of times Colette seemed to act like the sponsor."

"How old is her sponsor," Vanya inquired, "and how much time clean does she have?"

Klaus shrugged. "She looks our age, same as Colette. So if Colette got clean in her mid-twenties, maybe Dana did in her early twenties?" Klaus then remembered not long ago Dale sharing how he had gotten obsessed chasing a dude for cutting him off; he had concluded, _Ten years clean and I’m still a pretty fucked-up dude at times._ So, if Dale still practiced such adverse behavior at ten years clean, being nosey at (Klaus assumed) five or more years clean yet nearly twenty years Dale's junior was not that big of a deal, Klaus concluded.

However, Klaus understood the concern from both Vanya, and now Diego. Meeting outsiders was always risky. Like Allison could relate having graduated from childhood superhero to famous Hollywood actress, Klaus and his other siblings never initially knew if people were acquainting themselves because of who the siblings were as just people, or their former celebrity status. Klaus knew that Diego could especially understand, especially since he had distanced himself from old associates by having vowed not to be a full-time vigilanté after the mess was over. Both he and Klaus were working to become productive members of society and eventually earn a stable income as the two and Vanya hoped to eventually get a place together.

"Hey," Diego suggested to Klaus, "why don’t you bring Ben into this conversation? He was there with you, right?"

Klaus sighed. "Yes, he was." Then Klaus called out, "Okay, Bentacles. You are being summoned by our dear older brother for the benefit of my wellness."

Klaus' hands glowed bright blue, and Ben appeared before the three. "Hey, guys."

"So, Ben, you hung out with Klaus and his new friends," Diego piped up. "What’s your four-one-one on them?"

Ben shrugged. "Klaus is right about Dana. She was pretty nosey about the Academy. I’m not sure if it has just to do with her childhood crush with Luther---"

"Surprise, surprise," Diego rolled his eyes.

"---or anything else," Ben spoke through Diego's interruption.

Klaus knew that Diego and Luther were really making the effort to resolve their differences, but years of animosity were difficult to resolve in just a few months. Klaus was grateful to Ben for stepping up and being Diego's sounding board about Luther, despite the long periods of Ben's manifestation being exhausting to Klaus. But Ben had become the neutral party between the two, at least ever since the apocalypse aversion. Before that, Ben had always seemed to push Klaus to resume contact with Luther (at least before Luther had gone to the moon). In addition, the one secret solely between Klaus and Ben was the fact that Ben had sided with Luther during the family vote as to whether to shut off their mother’s programming. Ben had never explained it then, and when Klaus brought it up to Ben a couple of weeks after the fact, Ben admitted that he had done so only because Luther had been the same big brother to Ben that Diego was to Klaus growing up, and he realized he should have thought that one through. However, because Klaus had already gotten kidnapped by the time Mom did get turned off, Ben wasn’t around the mansion to witness Diego actually doing it mercifully; and when Diego told Klaus, Ben had already disappeared to respect privacy as Diego had initially stated needing to talk to Klaus. (Of course, Diego initially wanted to discuss having just read in Sir Reggie's journal about Klaus' mausoleum "training sessions" but eventually opened up after Klaus had probed him about a previous statement of having let Mom down.) That was, in turn, the only secret that Klaus and Diego shared with each other as well.

"Okay, okay, dear brothers," Klaus batted his eyelashes at Ben, and then Diego. "Well, Dana's leaving tomorrow and Colette is looking for a sponsor here, anyway. So my company with Colette will be completely devoid of Miss Noseybody."

Vanya observed Klaus more closely. "Klaus…do you _like_ her?"

"No relationships your first year in sobriety. Remember?" Ben scolded. 

"Yes, Bentacles," Klaus grinned.

Ben expelled a tentacle which quickly smacked Klaus on the back of his head.

"Ow!" Klaus rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. "You trying to send me back up to the afterlife? God'll just throw me back down here again."

"No, but I _will_ kill you if you get involved with someone and end up getting high again!" Ben scolded him.

"Relax!" Klaus said to Ben and looked at the others. "First of all, we just met. Second, I doubt she’s into me, and she definitely doesn’t seem like a thirteenth-stepper."

"Come again?" Diego was confused by the use of twelve-step jargon.

"A thirteenth-stepper is someone who gets in a relationship with a newcomer," Ben explained.

"That’s not what she’s doing," Klaus argued, ignoring a particular feeling deep within his heart. They had just met, right? Although, the only other time he’d had that feeling was…well, by Klaus' own perspective, a year-and-a-half ago, but in another time.

Dale knew about Dave, and how Klaus had met him. (As a Desert Storm veteran himself, Dale could relate to Klaus' PTSD; in fact, he admitted admiring Klaus for staying clean through those events, as Dale had been unable to soon after his discharge; his first ninety days clean had actually been in a VA rehab facility himself.) Dale even knew that Klaus had been somehow involved in the Icarus theater shooting, only because the police had agreed not to expel that detail themselves, and that Vanya turned out to also have superpowers since Vanya was likely the greatest reason besides for his own self that Klaus had remained clean. And that was because of the words she spoke to him during the lowest point in his then-newfound sobriety.

That was, of course, when Klaus had manifested their dad to the family so he could explain his knowledge of the apocalypse; while their father revealed he had been a former Temps Commission employee who traveled back in time to adopt as many of the children born that day in 1989, he also admitted having shame of Klaus for being ineffective in training, among other unthinkably cruel statements. Klaus was ready to give up, had Diego not physically stopped Klaus from leaving; and after Klaus shed many tears with all of his siblings, Vanya admitted she looked up to him, and that she would not have made it through such a tumultuous week without him.

Dale constantly reminded Klaus to be grateful for his family, as neither of Dale's siblings had anything to do with him, mainly for stealing his elderly mother’s medication to sell, and in turn buying heroin. He made amends with her before she had passed, but to this day his siblings remained cut off from him. Dale said his sole responsibility was living in recovery and making living amends accordingly; maybe they would come around, and maybe they wouldn’t. 

So Klaus sighed. _Remember, they’re just looking out for you._ Vanya had yet to see anyone since Leonard Peabody, but he knew whenever she was ready, Diego wasn’t going to be the only one keeping an eye on the dude. Of course, he should understand their concern right now.

"My lovely siblings," Klaus smiled. "I appreciate the concern." Klaus also admitted silently to himself that after nearly a lifetime of generally being ignored by the majority of his family, he was still getting used to having his other siblings genuinely care for his well-being (besides Ben, anyway; although Diego had tried looking out for Klaus as well, the two did not start becoming exceptionally close until the day Klaus returned from Vietnam). "But I already gave Dale my word that I won’t date anyone right now. And look at all the trouble I went through to get clean! And I know where getting clean has gotten me."

Indeed, the very next night after their dad’s horrific reveal to the family, Hazel told them that the only way the apocalypse got averted was because of Klaus' sobriety; the Commission had lacked in following-up of the timeline and thereby did not realize that Klaus hadn’t relapsed like he was supposed to. The Commission had wanted him high so that he and Ben would not have taken out the gunmen at the theater, and the loss of all of her siblings would have resulted in Vanya causing the apocalypse. As Hazel and Five had said, it had never been about who caused it, but who _prevented_ it.

If that wasn’t enough of an incentive for Klaus to remain clean….

"Yeah, well, don’t let that roll too much around in that thick head of yours," Ben joked. "But seriously, now that I’m here with you all now, congratulations on nine months."

Ben hugged Klaus, and then he faded back to ghost form.

Vanya jumped up and wrapped her arms around Klaus. "Yeah. Congratulations," she said warmly Diego stood behind Klaus and gave the back of his head a rub.

"We’re proud of you, bro." Diego said warmly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben stood back as he watched his three siblings continue converse. He was truly proud of his brother, but Klaus was right, at least about Dana. Something about tonight didn’t set well in what little he had witnessed earlier in the evening.

However, Allison would be arriving on the 30th. She and Diego had previously agreed that based on gender, either sibling would keep an eye on the potential partner. Ben hoped that if Diego didn’t advise her accordingly, that he could somehow bypass Klaus and talk to her without his knowledge.

Ben indeed knew what it took for Klaus to stay sober. He would not let Klaus throw it away over a potential relationship with someone he had just met.


End file.
